Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013

8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013

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What is that point? The point is that the NT has no such

rules about our personal acts of worship. Why do I make

this point? Because, unlike the Mosaic Covenant, the New

Covenant approaches the question of our worship in quite

a different way than the Mosaic Covenant does. To put it

plainly, the older covenant has a number of rules for carry-

ing out a persons public acts of worship that please God.They are spelled out in detail. Those rules covered matters

that greatly restricted the freedom of Israelites, but that

changes in the New Covenant.

When Jesus came, he hinted at a great change to begin

after his death and resurrection. We can see this hint in the

following exchange between Jesus and his critics in Mat-

thew 22:15-21:

The Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his

words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Hero-

dians. Teacher,

This is the thirteenth in our series of articles on Christ, Our New Covenant

Prophet, Priest and King.We did ve articles on Christ, Our New CovenantProphetand seven articles on Christ, Our New Covenant Priest.This is the rst

article in the last segment of this series, Christ, Our New Covenant King.The

kingship of Christ is the most controversial of all the three ofces because it

directly involves your prophetic view. We need to dene what we mean when

we refer to Christ as our King. There are quite a few references to Christ, the

King of the Jews in the New Testament, but there are only three direct refer-

ences to Christ as King in the New Testament, and all three of those combine

the word King and the word Lord. Christ is said to be Lord of Lord and King of Kings. Some dispensationalists

insist that Christ is not presently King. They will speak of Christ Our Prophet, Priest and comingKing. This grows

out of their dispensational belief that Christ at his rst coming offered the promised kingdom to the Jews, and they re-

jected it. The kingdom was postponed and will be established at the second coming

Is s ue 2 0 1 Oc tobe r 2 0 1 3

It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9

Christ, Our New Covenant King

Part 1

John G. Reisinger

Most believers have what are called daily devotions.

For some time I have been asking my Christian friends,

Do you keep the New Testament rules for your daily

devotions? A typical response is to look at me blankly

and ask what rules Im talking about. That response is

a fair one for at least two reasons. First, the NT doesnt

use the phrase, daily devotions. And second, most of uswould be hard pressed to nd verses that directly apply

to this practice. One possible passage would be 1 Thes-

salonians 5:16-18. There we read, Be joyful always; pray

continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is

Gods will for you in Christ Jesus. These verses command

three things: continual joy, continual prayer, and continual

thanksgiving. And they do apply to our devotions, but they

are clearly far broader than that.

My reason for raising the question about devotions is

that it makes the point I want to make clear in this article.

The New Covenant and Christian Liberty

Tom Wells

ReisingerContinued on page 2

WellsContinued on page 12

In This Issue

Christ, Our New Covenant King Part 1

John G. Reisinger

1

The New Covenant and ChristianLiberty

Tom Wells

1

Biblical Worship and Missions

Steve West3

The Great Commission

A. Blake White5

A Study of New CovenantTheology, Part 4 of 4

Kevin P. McAloon

7


2/20

Page 2 October 2013 Issue 201

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ReisingerContinued from page 1


of Christ. They insist that Christ is

Lord over the Church andKing over

a future converted nation of Israel.

I believe the promised kingdom has

already come, and Jesus is presently

seated on the throne of David as King.

We will use the terms King andLord as synonyms in this article.

And he hath on his vesture and

on his thigh a name written, King of

Kings, And Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16).1

These shall make war with the

Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome

them: for he is Lord of lords, and King

of kings: and they that are with him

are called, and chosen, and faithful

(Rev. 17:14).

Which in his times he shall shew,

who is the blessed and only Potentate,

the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords;

(1 Tim. 6:15).

We should note that some secular

kings have called themselves King

of Kings and Lord of Lords. The title

is meant to show that the one bear-

ing it is the highest authority. He is

Lord over everyone and all things.

Only one person has the right to wear

that title, and that is the one who was

God manifest in human esh. Jesus,

our New Covenant King died, rose

from the dead, ascended into heaven

and is presently seated on a throne at

the right hand of God the Father. Our

Lord is not only the King of the Jews,

but he is also the King of the universe

and everything in it. Acts Chapter 2 is

a very key section of Scripture deal-

ing with our subject. Let me repeat a

small part of it. We will come backand exegete most of this chapter.

Men and brethren, let me freely

speak unto you of the patriarch David,

that he is both dead and buried, and

his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Therefore being a prophet, and know-

ing that God had sworn with an oath

1 Scripture quotations are from the

Authorized Version (KJV) unless

otherwise noted.

to him, that of the fruit of his loins, ac-

cording to the esh, he would raise up

Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing

this before spake of the resurrection

of Christ, that his soul was not left in

hell, neither his esh did see corrup-

tion. This Jesus hath God raised up,

whereof we all are witnesses. There-

fore being by the right hand of Godexalted, and having received of the

Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,

he hath shed forth this, which ye now

see and hear. For David is not ascend-

ed into the heavens: but he saith him-

self, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit

thou on my right hand, Until I make

thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all

the house of Israel know assuredly,

that God hath made the same Jesus,

whom ye have crucied, both Lord and

Christ (Acts 2:29-36).

The key verse is this quotation is

verse 36. His Father in heaven raised

the same Jesus, the son of Mary,

that the Jews crucied from the dead.

The Father rewarded his Son for his

redemptive work by exalting him

to the highest place of authority. He

made him, that same Jesus, son of

Mary, to be the Lord of the universe

and the Savior of Gods elect. One of

my favorite choruses is He is Lord.

He is Lord, He is Lord, He has

risen from the dead and He is Lord.

Every knee shall bow, Every

tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord.

We should note that preaching the

Gospel involves preaching that Jesus

Christ is Lord and calling sinners to

bow to Christ as Lord in repentance

and faith. We will say more about this.

At the moment the important thing isto see that the Lordship we are talking

about is an earned Lordship. Christ

was always the Son of God or second

person of the trinity just as he was

always Lord of all creation; however,

the Father rewarded his redemptive

work as the Messiah with the new au-

thority described in John.

These words spake Jesus, and


3/20

Issue 201 October 2013 Page 3

WestContinued on page 9

heard in heaven: You are worthy to

take the scroll and to open its seals,because you were slain, and with your

blood you purchased for God persons

from every tribe and language and

people and nation. You have made

them to be a kingdom and priests to

serve our God, and they will reign on

the earth (Rev. 5:9-10).

This new song celebrates the

salvic triumph of Jesus Christ, the

Lamb of God. He has conquered sin

and death and hell and Satan. He haspurchased a people at the price of his

own blood. And what a people! They

are from every tribe, every nation,

every ethnicity, every language. In the

current vocabulary of the missiologist,

we would say they are from every

people group. Although in one sense

the accomplishment of redemption

can be considered as a subcategory

of Gods works, there is a profound

shift in focus from the theme of the

second song. Creating and sustain-

ing a world is an act of wisdom and

power; redeeming a fallen world is

an act of love and grace. Redemp-

tion is a special work. It is actually

entirely unique, requiring every one

of Gods attributes to be engaged. In

some ways, redemption is the ultimate

product of Gods essential nature

and creative work. The only tting

response is that everything that has

breath should praise the Lord.What is the connection between

these reections on the categories of

biblical worship and the topic of mis-

sions? Obviously a tremendous num-

ber of biblical passages deal with mis-

sionary endeavors and the necessity

of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to

all people, but we simply cannot deal

with even a fraction of the relevant

Scriptural data in this article. What

In Revelation 4-5, we get a privi-

leged look into how God is worshiped

in heaven above. The scene is one of

indescribable splendor, unimaginable

terror, unalloyed joy, and inexpress-

ible glory. Godthe one who sits on

the throne and lives in unapproach-

able holy lightis praised rst for hisintrinsic character: Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty, who was,

and is, and is to come (Rev. 4:8b).

In this song God is praised simply in

accordance with his inherent worth

and essential nature. Biblical worship

starts with a recognition that God

as Godis deserving of honor and

praise.

The content of the second song

ascribing praise to God in Revelation4 moves in focus from his intrinsic

nature to his acts of creation. Fall-

ing down before him, the elders say:

You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things, and by your

will they were created and have their

being (Rev. 4:11). Here, the focus is

on what God has done. This second

song reveals that God is to be praised

not only for who he is but also for

his acts. As creatures, the elders areparticularly praise-lled and worship-

ful when they think that their lives

and continued existence are owing to

nothing besides Gods sovereign will

and good pleasure.

After these two hymns of praise,

a fascinating drama unfolds in the

throne room. The Lamb of God comes

forward to bring Gods purposes to

pass. Because he has been slain but

lives again, he is worthy to be theagent who accomplishes all of Gods

eternal plans. When the Lamb takes

the scroll (symbolic of Gods sover-

eign decrees) from the Fathers hand,

an explosion of praise occurs. Since

none of the old songs in heaven and

earth has content tted to this new

era in salvation history, a new song

is required. The living creatures and

elders cry out in words never before

we will do, however, is use the hymn

of praise in Rev. 5:9-10 as a launchingpad for our considerations.

There are some subtle and some

not-so-subtle points of contact be-

tween worship and missions in this

new song. One rather obvious link is

that the Lamb has purchased people

from all over the globe. Although un-

stated here, a full biblical understand-

ing of salvation requires the message

of the gospel being communicated to

the lost so that they can hear the nameof Jesus Christ, the good news of what

he has done on their behalf, and by

Gods grace, be given a new heart so

they can believe and be saved. The

gospel is good news; good news must

be heard; to be heard it requires a

herald; heralds must go to the people

who havent heard! Jesus has bought

people all over this world with his

bloodhis church has the unimagin-

ably rich privilege of being called to

go and reach them with this message.

But what will motivate us to go?

At one level, sheer obedience should

be enough to compel us. Jesus has

laid down instructions for his church

to proclaim the gospel to the ends of

the earththat, frankly, should settle

it. Another possible motive could be

the love of our fellow creatures who

bear the image of God and are lost in

their rebellion and sins. Can we really

love our neighbors as ourselves if weare unmoved that they live in a dark

night, some in the world never having

even heard that there is a Savior?

Doctors Without Borderstakes medi-

cal care to people in need; their medi-

cal professionals travel to care for

physical bodies, looking to do good

in this world alone. What about the

representatives of the Great Physician

Biblical Worship and Missions

Steve West


4/20


lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy

Son, that thy Son also may glorify

thee:As thou hast given him power

[authority NIV]over all esh,that he

should give eternal life to as many as

thou hast given him. And this is life

eternal, that they might know thee the

only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom

thou hast sent. I have gloried thee on

the earth:I have fnished the work

which thou gavest me to do (John

17:1-4).

Our Lord, in his humanity, was a

man under specic orders. He came

into the world with a specic job de-

scription (John 17:4) that culminated

in the cross. Christ was born for the

express idea of dying under the wrathof God as a sin offering. It was the

Father who put him on the cross, and

it was also the Father who raised him

from the dead and gave him all au-

thority (John 17:2). Several things

must be noted.

1. The work our Lord was com-

missioned to perform was the

work of redemption. It was to pro-

vide for the elect all they needed

to stand fully justied in Godsholy presence. It involved the do-

ing and dying of Christ. It in-

cluded keeping the Law and earn-

ing the righteousness it promised

and then dying under the curse of

the Law and fully paying our debt

of sin.

2. That redemptive work was n-

ished when Jesus cried out on the

cross, It is nished.

3. The Father was satised with thatredemptive work and rewarded

Christ for performing that work

by raising him from the dead,

seating him on a throne at his own

right hand and giving him author-

ity over all esh. The all esh

included all men without excep-

tion.

4. The authority that was given to

Christ was the legal authority to

justly forgive sinners. He could

only forgive sinners because he

had offered to God his Father an

acceptable sacrice for sins and a

perfect sinless life of obedience.

5. We keep insisting that Christs

Lordship, or authority, that we are

discussing is an earned author-

ity. We are not saying or in any

way suggesting that this reward

in anyway way adds to Christs

deity. We are not talking about

Christs deity as opposed to his

humanity. Christs atoning work

on the cross added nothing to the

deity of Christ. That redemptive

work did give Christ, acting in his

humanity as our substitute, the

legal right to forgive sins. Thatwork satised the holy character

of God. No one, including God,

can arbitrarily forgive sins with-

out a righteous basis. Paul, in Ro-

mans 1:16-17 and 3:24-26, makes

it abundantly clear that the Gospel

justies God in his justifying

sinners. The Gospel shows that

sin must be paid for before a holy

God can forgive them. The death,

resurrection and ascension of

Christ provide the essential workof redemption that make it pos-

sible for God to be both just and

the justier of those for whom

Christ died. Paul insists that the

gospel reveals the righteous-

ness of God (Rom. 1:17). Christs

work on the cross is where

righteousness and peace have

kissed each other (Psalm 85:10).

6. Christ earned the Lordship, or

authority, to forgive sinner inhis humanity. Christs redemp-

tion involved both his deity and

his humanity. Evangelicals have

a tendency to forget that both

Christs holy life that earned righ-

teousness and his obedience death

that paid for sin were both per-

formed in a human sinless body.

Our Redeemer and Savior is not

only the Son of God, but he is also

the son of Mary. Our substitute is

both deity and human. The work

of our salvation involves both the

Son of God and the son of Mary.

It involves both of these, and both

are vital.

We believe and preach both the hu-

manity and deity of Christ. If we lose

either the deity of Christ or his sinless

humanity, we will have a heretical

view of Christs person and work. He-

brews 4:14-16 would lose its power to

help us in time of need if Christ is not

one with us in his humanity. Romans

8:28 would be a mere sentimental

platitude if Christ is not both a sov-

ereign deity and our human brother.

Sometimes both Christs deity and his

humanity are emphasized in the samepassage.

And there arose a great storm of

wind, and the waves beat into the ship,

so that it was now full. And he was in

the hinder part of the ship, asleep on

a pillow: and they awake him, and say

unto him, Master, carest thou not that

we perish? And he arose, and rebuked

the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace,

be still. And the wind ceased, and

there was a great calm. And he said

unto them, Why are ye so fearful? howis it that ye have no faith? And they

feared exceedingly, and said one to

another, What manner of man is this,

that even the wind and the sea obey

him? (Mark 4:37-41).

Why was Jesus sleeping? The an-

swer simple, he was sleeping for the

same reason we go to sleep. He was

tired and his body needed rest. He

was a man, a human being. But wait a

minute. How could a mere man calm

the raging sea with nothing but a ver-bal command? Because he was more

than a mere man; he was the Son of

God. He was deity made esh. He was

the God-man.

We are not talking about deity

versus humanity in this message.

We are talking about an earned Lord-

ship that was given to Christ Jesus the




5/20


The passage we know as the

Great Commission is a popular one,

but it is also an important one, so itis worth revisiting from time to time.

Matthew 28:18-20 reads,

And Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven and on earth

has been given to me. Go therefore

and make disciples of all nations, bap-

tizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I

have commanded you. And behold, I

am with you always, to the end of the

age (ESV).

The Power of Christ

Verse 18 says that all authority in

heaven and on earth has been given to

Jesus. The word all dominates these

three verses. The Greek word for all

(pas) occurs four times: all authority,

allnations, to obey everything, I am

with you always.

Jesus has all authority in heaven

and on earth. He uniquely has theright to rule. Heaven and earth are

used to indicate the comprehensive-

ness of his authority. In other words,

he has all authority in the universe. As

Abraham Kuyper put it, there is not a

single square inch in the universe that

the risen Christ does not own.

The text says this authority was

givento him. The second person of

the Godhead has always possessed

authority, but now he speaks as vic-tor. There is a sense in which Jesus is

talking here about an authority that

he did not have prior to the cross and

resurrection. It is an achieved author-

ity. It is an earnedlordship. After the

cross, Jesus was raised from the dead,

exalted to the right hand of the Father

and enthroned as King (2 Sam. 7:13,

Ps. 2:7). Romans 1:4 says, and who

through the Spirit of holiness was

appointed the Son of God in power

by his resurrection from the dead:

Jesus Christ our Lord (NIV). Isaiah53:11-12 says By the knowledge my

righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion

among the great, and he will divide

the spoils with the strong, because he

poured out his life unto death. Notice

the therefore. Similarly, Hebrews

2:9 reads But we do see Jesus, who

was made lower than the angels for a

little while, now crowned with gloryand honor because he suffered death.

Notice the because.

He is the Lord. He is worthy of all

worship. We have reduced him to a

puny personal Lord who is waiting

to be accepted. His Lordship is not a

matter of acceptance. Jesus is not a

personal Lord. He is Lord! Philippians

2:9-11 says, Therefore God exalted

him to the highest place and gave him

the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee

should bow, in heaven and on earth

and under the earth, and every tongue

acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father. He is

Lord of all, whether they bow to his

authority now willingly or in destruc-

tion on judgment day.

The Plan of Christ

Matthew 19-20a gives us the mas-

ter plan: Go therefore and makedisciples of all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching

them to observe all that I have com-

manded you. All of Gods authority

is now mediated through the Messiah,

who commissions his followers to

universal mission.

Jesus commands us to go. A

vibrant church will have people

who leave the church in order to go

to places that need the gospel. If a

person is not led to go, then they must

be involved by sending and praying.

Church budgets should be focused on

fullling this great commission.

We are called to make disciples

at home and abroad because of the

universal Lordship of Christ. John

Dickson speaks of the Mission Equa-

tion: If there is one Lord to whom

all people belong and owe their al-

legiance, the people of that Lord must

promote this reality everywhere.1

Notice the therefore in the passage:

Jesus says all authority has been given

to him, therefore go and make dis-

ciples.

We must make people aware oftheir Lord. We must help them realize

and submit to the Lordship of Jesus

Christ. We speak for their king as

we summon them to repent. John

Dickson recounts a story about three

young men who hopped on a bus in

Detroit in the 30s and tried to pick

a ght with a guy sitting toward the

back. They were talking trash, but the

guy didnt respond. They increased

their insults, but the man still saidnothing. Eventually, the bus made it to

the dudes stop, so he stood up. They

were surprised at how big he was

when he stood up. They didnt realize

his size by the way he was sitting. As

he walked out, he handed the guys

a business card and got off the bus.

The young men looked at the card and

read the words: Joe Louis, Profes-

sional Boxer. These young thugs just

tried to pick a ght with the Brown

Bomber, the man who would go on tobecome the world heavy weight box-

ing champion from 1937-49. I imagine

they were a little relieved that their

comments didnt merit a reaction!

Now imagine if we were friends

1 John Dickson, The Best Kept Secret

of Christian Mission (Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 2010), 31

The Great Commission

A. Blake White

WhiteContinued on page 14


6/20



all esh, that he should give eternal

life to as many as thou hast given him

(John 17:2 ).

Jesus alone has the authority (right)

to justly and righteously forgive sins

because he has paid for those sins.

Jesus Christ is the only man who can

forgive sins, and he is also the onlyman who can send anyone to hell!

And he must do either one or the other

with every person. All people, without

exception, are in the hands of Jesus

Christ the judge. See Acts 17:31.

I am often amazed at how preach-

ers can so grossly misuse a text of

Scripture. This is especially true when

they butcher texts that deal with the

sovereignty of God. The short dia-

logue between Pilate and Jesus is aclassic example. This is one the favor-

ite passages for Arminian evangelists.

They use it as part of an altar call.

They say, Jesus is in your hands to

do with as you choose. What will you

do with Jesus? I have yet to hear a

single Arminian preacher quote verse

11!

Then saith Pilate unto him, Speak-

est thou not unto me? knowest thou

not that I have power to crucify thee,

and have power to release thee? Je-

sus answered, Thou couldest have no

power at all against me, except it were

given thee from above: therefore he

that delivered me unto thee hath the

greater sin (John 19:10-11).

It is true that God one time put his

son into the hands of sinners; howev-

er, it is also true that men, unanimous-

ly, cried out, Crucify him! Crucify

him! We will not have this man to

rule over us. Men put Christ to deathbut God raised him from the grave

and gave him all power and author-

ity. Christ also was given a new name

(Phil. 2:9-11). The Father made his son

to be Lord. The real question is not

what sinners will do with Christ, but

the question is what will Jesus do with

the sinner? He is not in our hands; we

are in his hands. All men are in the

hands of Gods appointed Redeemer

God-man as a reward for nishing the

work his Father gave him to do.

Nearly all Christians agree that the

three ofces of Prophet, Priest, and

King set forth in the Old Testament

Scriptures are types of the work and

ministry of the Messiah which are ful-lled in the past and present ministry

of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthi-

ans 1:30 is one of many texts.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,

who of God is made unto us wisdom,

and righteousness, and sanctication,

and redemption:

Wisdom refers to his work as

Prophet to teach us about God and

ourselves. Righteousness is his work

of Priest to remove our guilt and jus-tify us in Gods sight. Sanctication is

his work through his ofce as King,

or Lord, to rule over us and conquer

sin in us. Redemption is the full and

nal work of a complete salvation that

involves all three ofces of Christs

work. That work accomplishes a de-

liverance from the penalty, power, and

nally even the presence of sin. This

whole work of a complete and eternal

salvation is of him and not of us.

In our booklet, Christ, Lord

and Lawgiver over the Churchwe

discussed four things about the Lord-

ship of Christ: (1) ItsNATURE;(2) Its

EXTENT;(3) HowIt Is EXERCISED

or Mediated;(4) ModernExamples

of Denying Christs Lordship.This

booklet is available from New Cov-

enant Ministries. It is most helpful

in understanding the subject under

discussion. The Lordship of Christ

that we are discussing in this article isan earnedLordship and is part of the

nature of the Lordship of Christ. I em-

phasize again that this is not part of

his deity as such. This is the authority

and power given to the manChrist

Jesus by the Father to save or damn

whom he will. Johns words cannot be

understood any other way. Notice two

texts:

As thou hast given him power over

to do with as he chooses. Romans 1:1-

4 helps us understand this point.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,

called to be an apostle, separated

unto the gospel of God,(Which he

had promised afore by his prophets in

the holy scriptures,) Concerning his

Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which wasmade of the seed of David according

to the esh;And declared to be the

Son of God with power, according to

the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec-

tion from the dead:

John Murrays comments on Ro-

mans 1:1-4 are most helpful.

By his resurrection and ascen-

sion the Son of God incarnate entered

upon a new phase of sovereignty and

was endowed with new power cor-

respondent with and unto the exerciseof the mediatorial lordship which he

executes as head over all things to his

body, the church.2

In no sense whatsoever is Murray

suggesting that Christ is more sover-

eign after the resurrection and ascen-

sion than he was before. Nor is he say-

ing that nishing the redemptive work

his father gave him added anything

to his person. He is talking about the

redemptive authority the man, ChristJesus, earned in sufferings. The NIV

in its translation of Romans 1:4, as it

often does, gives an interpretationof

the text instead of an accurate transla-

tion. Notice the difference between

the NIV and the KJV:

A. Romans 1:4-KJV

And declared to be the Son of God

WITH POWER,according to the

spirit of holiness, by the resurrection

from the dead:

B. Romans 1:4-NIV

And who through the Spirit of

holiness wasDECLARED WITH

POWER to be the Son of God by his

resurrectionfrom the dead: Jesus

Christ our Lord.

2 John Murray, The Epistle to the Ro-

mans (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B.

Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1960) 11.



7/20


McAloonContinued on page 11

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH

As may have been previously ob-

served, all of NCTs views regarding

major historical-redemptive themes

are dependent upon one another

and interrelated at their most basic

foundations, and the same may be

said about our views regarding Israel

and the church. Just as the physical

pictures and types of the Abrahamic

Covenant were set forth under the OldCovenant to be fullled and fully ex-

perienced in the New, even so was the

nation of Israel a physical picture and

type of what would later be fullled

and realized within the church which

Christ came to establish. Ancient

Israel was the shadow, the church is

the substance. Each institution was es-

tablished for differing purposes in the

grand scheme of redemptive history,

carrying with them different lawsalong with different blessings, but

both testifying to and serving Gods

grand purpose of grace in which he

decreed to eternally redeem a people

for himself.

Ancient Israel

NCT holds that ancient Israel was

an elect physical nation which was for

the most part unregenerate, with the

exception of a perpetual remnant of

genuine justied believers that God

had preserved within the nation (seepage 20). Reisinger argues that we

must make a clear distinction between

the physical nation of Israel as a

special seed chosen from among all

of the other natural seeds of Abraham

(i.e., Ishmael, Esau, etc.) and the elect

seed of true believers within that na-

tion: In reality, they were a group of

proud, individualistic, self-seeking

rebels. They were established and

sustained as a nation only because of

their physical lineage to Abraham andJacob. God did this as a fulllment of

his promise to Abraham and also to

accomplish his purpose of bringing

forth the Messiah through the ap-

pointed nation.1Lehrer believes that

although Christians may fall into sin,

and God may warn and chastise them

as a loving Father, these were both of

a different nature than what we gener-

ally read of in the Old Testament. He

argues that the difference betweenwhat was happening in the book of

Judges and the experience of the

Christians struggle with sin is like

the difference between night and day.

In 2 Kings 21:10-15, the reason God

is going to cursenot disciplineIs-

rael is because they had been doing

evil in his eyes ever since the day he

1 Reisinger,Abrahamss Four Seeds, 69,

75.

brought their forefathers out of Egypt.

This is why Lehrer believes that the

nation had always been apostate, and

he argues against the opinion that

Israel had largely been Gods believ-

ing people until the judgments in 711

and 586 B.C.2This establishment and

preservation of an unbelieving nation

who could not help but continually

disgrace the gracious God who had

physically redeemed them was allto display mans utter depravity and

inability in himself, and thus his need

for a Savior who could atone for his

sins and give him a new heart.

Furthermore, as was mentioned in

the previous discussion regarding the

Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants,

NCT holds that all of the blessings,

ordinances, and promises to the nation

of Israel were types and foreshadows

of their true fulllments found in theNew Covenant church. Lehrer sums

up this position by saying:

[I]n the Old Covenant era we see

spiritual truths being related in picture

form. When God revealed mans need

for atonement, he used the types and

shadows of an elaborate sacricial sys

tem including thousands of priests and

barnyard animals. When God revealed

the promise of his people to dwell

with him, he did so in the types and

shadows of the land in the Middle Easand in a building made of bricks and

mortar. This is the way in which God

revealed his plan in the Old Covenant

era. So when God used the prophets

to explain the spiritual fulllment of

Gods plan in the New Covenant era,

God decided to use the language of

types and shadows. He was describing

the New Covenant in the language of

2 Lehrer, 80-83.

A STUDY OF

NEW COVENANT THEOLOGY

Part 4 of 4

Kevin P. McAloon

Kevin recently graduated fromSoutheastern Baptist TheologicalSeminary, and is currently meetingwith some believers seeking Godto raise a church in Carmel, NY.His heart is for the further reforma-tion of Christ's Church back to NewCovenant power and purity, andtruly believes that New CovenantTheology and many of the churchesespousing it are God's blessing inthis generation towards that end.

While avoiding formal denomi-national afliation, Kevin cravesand welcomes all open heartedfellowship with devout brothers andsisters in Christ. He and his groupcovet your prayers. You are invitedto contact him at [email protected]


8/20


As you can see, the NIV makes the

resurrection to be a powerful demon-

stration of Christs deity, and the KJV

sees the resurrection as giving Christ

a new and earned power or authority.

The resurrection of Christ certainly

is a powerful demonstration thatproves the deity of Christ, but Paul

in Romans 1:4 is not trying to prove

that Christ was both human and deity.

I grant that is the most common inter-

pretation, but I think it totally misses

the point taught in the text. Paul is

saying that the resurrection declares

that Christ has beengiven a power of

Lordship as a reward for his success-

ful atoning work. This is a redemptive

Lordship that belongs to the Son of

Mary as the successful Redeemer. Itis not an innate Lordship that belongs

to the Son of God as a member of the

Trinity.

The manChrist Jesus is declared

to be Son of God with powerbecause

he is gloried and enthroned human-

ity.A true man, the God-Man, has

been given the right to exercise both

the role of Savior and the role of judge

over all men. This Man earned that

right. This truth is seen every time themanChrist Jesus is mentioned in

the New Testament Scriptures. Note

the following examples:

And said, Behold, I see the heavens

opened, and the Son of man standing

on the right hand of God (Acts 7:56).

Be it known unto you therefore,

men and brethren, that through this

manis preached unto you the forgive-

ness of sins: (Acts 13:38).

Because he hath appointed a day,in the which he will judge the world in

righteousness by that manwhom he

hath ordained; whereof he hath given

assurance unto all men, in that he

hath raised him from the dead (Acts

17:31).

For there is one God, and one

mediator between God and men, the

manChrist Jesus; [Note it is men]

(1 Tim. 2:5).

For this manwas counted worthy

of more glory than Moses, inasmuch

as he who hath builded the house hath

more honour than the house (Heb.

3:3).

But this man,because he continu-

eth ever, hath an unchangeable priest-

hood. Wherefore he is able also tosave them to the uttermost that come

unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth

[As a true man]to make intercession

for them (Heb. 7:24-25).

This fact explains why the ser-

mons in the Book of Acts emphasize

both the resurrection and ascension

of Christ. It is those events that prove

Christ has been given a new authority.

Ye men of Israel, hear these words;

Jesus of Nazareth, a manapproved of

God among you by miracles and won-

ders and signs, which God did by him

in the midst of you, as ye yourselves

also know: Him, being delivered by

the determinate counsel and fore-

knowledge of God, ye have taken, and

by wicked hands have crucied and

slain: Whom God hath raised up, hav-

ing loosed the pains of death: because

it was not possible that he should be

holden of it (Acts 2:22-24).

The point of this passage is the res-

urrection, but Peter does not stop withjust the resurrection. The heart of his

sermon is verses 30-32.

Therefore being a prophet, and

knowing that God had sworn with

an oath to him, that of the fruit of his

loins, according to the esh, he would

raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

He seeing this before spake of the

resurrection of Christ, that his soul

was not left in hell, neither his esh

did see corruption. This Jesus hath

God raised up, whereof we all are wit-

nesses (Acts 2:30-32).

The application of the sermon is in

verses 33-36.

Therefore being by the right hand

of God exalted, and having received

of the Father the promise of the Holy

Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which

ye now see and hear. For David is

not ascended into the heavens: but he

saith himself, The LORD said unto my

Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until

I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore

let all the house of Israel know assur-

edly, that God hath made that same

Jesus, whom ye have crucied, both

Lord and Christ(Acts 2:33-36).

There is a point in time when God

the Father made Christ to be bothLord and Christ in a new sense. When

did that happen? It took place at the

resurrection and ascension. What is

the peculiar authority that the Father

gave the Son when he made him Lord

over all esh? The Father gave the

Son the legal authority of Lordship to

forgive and justify sinners. The ascen-

sion to the throne at the Fathers right

hand gave the man Christ Jesus the

mediatorial rights to dispense the gifts

he earned by his obedient life andvicarious death. The message of the

Gospel to be preached is, Therefore

let all the house of Israel know assur-

edly, that God hath made that same

Jesus, whom ye have crucied, both

Lord and Christ.The man Christ

Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary,

is the judge of all men, and he is the

Messiah who saves the sheep his Fa-

ther gave him.

What must poor sinners do to besaved? They must bow in repentance

and faith to the exalted Christ of God.

Now when they heard this, they

were pricked in their heart, and

said unto Peter and to the rest of the

apostles, Men and brethren, what shall

we do? Then Peter said unto them,

Repent, and be baptized every one of

you in the name of Jesus Christ for

the remission of sins, and ye shall re-

ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost.For

the promise is unto you, and to yourchildren, and to all that are afar off,

even as many as the Lord our God

shall call.And with many other words

did he testify and exhort, saying, Save

yourselves from this untoward genera-

tion. Then they that gladly received

his word were baptized: and the same

day there were added unto them about

three thousand souls (Acts 2:37-47).




9/20


who know a cure that brings eternal

life and destroys the power of the

disease that brings death? Surely the

church should be more motivated than

medical personnel!

At a deeper level than just dis-

ciplined obedience or love for oth-

ers, there is a connection between

our worship and delight in God and

the call to missionary endeavors.

Although I do not believe that I am

unduly inuenced by John Piper in

general, I remember over a decade

ago reading the rst paragraphs of the

rst chapter in his book,Let the Na-

tions be Glad! The Supremacy of God

in Missions.1His words fell on my

heart like hammer blows. Without ex-aggeration, God used Pipers rst ve

paragraphs in that book to radically

affect my conception of missions. It

gave me a totally new lens through

which to view taking the gospel to

the world. Here is his rst paragraph:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of

the church. Worship is. Missions exist

because worship doesnt. Worship is

ultimate, not missions, because God

is ultimate, not man. When this age

is over, and the countless millions ofthe redeemed fall on their faces before

the throne of God, missions will be no

more. It is a temporary necessity. But

worship abides forever.2

I had never thought about it like

that. God is not worshiped by all

peoples in all places: thats why we

go. God is so worthy of praise and

the Lamb so worthy of honor that the

church should not be able to stand it

until the whole earth is covered withpeople worshiping the triune God.

Piper writes: Worship, therefore, is

the fuel and goal in missions. Its the

goal of missions because in missions

we simply aim to bring the nations

into the white-hot enjoyment of Gods

glory. The goal of missions is the

gladness of the peoples in the great-

1 Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993.

2 Ibid., 11.

ness of God But worship is also the

fuel of missions. Passion for God in

worship precedes the offer of God in

preaching. You cant commend what

you dont cherish.3

We should not be able to read Rev-

elation 4-5 without joining our hearts

in the chorus of praise that is rising to

the Lamb and to him who sits on the

throne. We should love God and wor-

ship him with all that we are and have.

We should be inamed with passion

in his presence. We should just love

it. We should love it so much we cant

bear the thought that others are miss-

ing out. As our joy is made complete

in the Lord and as every longing of

our soul is fullled in him, we should

crave this experience for others too.We should not be apathetic that others

are not joining in this sacred choir.

But as true as this is, it is not the ulti-

mate motivation.

More than we long to see people

delighting in the presence of God, we

should long to see God being de-

lighted in. Our major motivation must

be God-centred and focused on him.

It is completely wrong that people

should walk in this worldcreatedand sustained by Godwithout

acknowledging him as God and giv-

ing him the honor that is his due. We

should desire for Gods sake to see the

choir enlarged. He is worthy of praise

and glory and honor and wisdom and

strength. We who have tasted of his

glory should be zealous for it. We

lack passion for missions not because

we lack passion for people; we lack

passion for missions because we lack

passion for God.

Piper expresses this reality very

cogently. He writes, If the pursuit of

Gods glory is not ordered above the

pursuit of mans good in the affections

of the heart and the priorities of the

church, man will not be well served

and God will not be duly honored. I

am not pleading for a diminishing of

3 Ibid.

missions but for a magnifying of God.

When the ame of worship burns

with the heat of Gods true worth,

the light of missions will shine to the

most remote peoples on earth. And I

long for that day to come!4Our view

of God needs to be so high, our taste

of grace so sweet, and our marvel atbeing redeemed so overwhelming that

we worship God in a way that is un-

containable. From our hearts to Gods

throne to the nationsthats how our

praise should move.

If this is true, then when the

church is failing in missions, we must

be failing in worship. Piper states,

Where passion for God is weak, zeal

for missions will be weak. Churches

that are not centered on the exalta-tion of the majesty and beauty of God

will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to

declare his glory among the nations

(Psalm 96:3). Even outsiders feel the

disparity between the boldness of our

claim upon the nations and the bland-

ness of our engagement with God.5

I fear that this strikes at an important

truth. To take the gospel to the nations

requires people who are, frankly,

willing to give up a lot of things that

our society values greatly. To do so re-

quires believing God is more valuable

than these competing idols. Actually,

it requires believing hes worth in-

nitely more. Thankfully he is.

These reections must drive us to

ask how the church is doing in wor-

ship and missions. Here are two sta-

tistics. First, the church has had 2000

years to spread the gospel to the na-

tions. Second, today there are roughly

2-3 billion people who have little tono meaningful access to the gospel.

There are individual people groups

with populations numbering in the

millions who have noknowledge of

Jesus Christ. There are languages and

dialects where no words are ever used

to praise the Lamb; their speakers

4 Ibid., 12.

5 Ibid.

WestContinued from page 3

WestContinued on page 19


10/20

Page 10 October 2013 Issue 201ReisingerContinued from page 8

What is Gods controversy with

the people living in your town? The

following quotation is taken from my

booklet, Christ, Lord and Lawgiver

over the Church. It is taken from the

section dealing with modern examples

of the denial of Christs Lordship. Therst example is The Diluted Message

in Evangelism.

The rst denial of the Lordship of

Christ is seen in The Diluted Evange-

listic Message Preached Today.We

clearly see Christs Lordship denied

when we see him preached as anything

less than Lord. To imply that a sinner

may receive Christ as anyone less than

an enthroned Lord is equal to denying

that he is Lord. Making salvation to

be anything less than full and gratefulsubmission to Christ as Lord, as well

as Savior, is as wrong as denying that

he rose from the dead and ascended

into heaven. The controversy arising

from John MacArthurs excellent book

titled The Gospel According To Jesus

is more than a discussion on how to

preach. The bottom line is the person,

dignity, and authority of Jesus Christ

as Lord. Who is the person that we tell

sinners to look to alone for salvation?

We must believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ. What kind of salvation is freelyoffered to sinners by this Person? Dare

we say to a sinner, Jesus Christ is

Lord and he alone can save you. How-

ever, you really need not actually treat

him as Lord in order to trust him as

your Savior? I honestly wish I were

caricaturing but you know I am not .3

It is essential that we keep the fo-

cus on who Jesus is and on what

did Jesus accomplish in his atoning

work. We need only look at the way

Christ was proclaimed by the early

church to prove our point. When

Christ was born, his Lordship was

emphasized: For unto you is born

this day in the city of David a Savior,

which is Christ the LORD (Luke

2:11). It is true that Christ is here

presented as a Savior, but the mes-

3 John Reisinger, Christ, Lord and Law-

giver over the Church (Frederick, Md.:

New Covenant Media, 1998).

sage declared that he could be the

Savior only because he was the Lord.

Christs Lordship cannot be separated

from his Saviorhood. To even imply

that a sinner can trust Christ as Savior

and deny him as Lord is equally as

bad as saying a sinner can trust Christ

as his Lord and, at the same time,ridicule and mock his priestly work of

blood atonement. We must declare a

Savior who is the Lord, or we are de-

nying his Lordship. This is surely the

pattern in the entire New Testament

Scriptures: Believe on the LORD

Jesus ChristTherefore let all the

house of Israel know assuredly, that

God hath made the same Jesus, whom

ye have crucied, both LORD and

Christif thou shalt confess with thy

mouth the LORD Jesus (or that Je-sus is Lord) (Acts 16:31; 2:36; Rom.

10:9).

The Gospel presents a whole Sav-

ior. He is Prophet, Priest and King.

We insist the Gospel affects the whole

man, mind, heart and will. Nowhere

in the New Testament Scriptures

are sinners told to accept Jesus as

your personal Savior. That phrase

enshrines the totality of modern or-

thodox theology. We could just as wellsay, Accept Jesus as your personal

Priest or accept Jesus as your personal

King. The emphasis is never on the

ofce but on trusting the person who

holds the ofce, and that person is

always theLordJesus Christ. Gods

salvation is in a living Lord, and we

receive Him in all his fullness and

not merely his ofces or his benets.

Bowing in repentance and faith to the

risen and enthroned Lord is the gospelmessage of the early church.

This emphasis on Lordship does

not end with the sinners conversion.

Holiness and following after Christ

were also couched in terms of Lord-

ship: As you have therefore received

Christ Jesus the LORD, so walk ye in

him (Col. 2:6). Notice that believers

were urged to follow Christ asLord

because they had received him in

conversion as Lord. There is no other

kind of gospel or conversion.

Someday every person who has

ever lived will acknowledge Jesus

Christ as Lord.

Wherefore God also hath highly

exalted him, andgiven him a name

which is above every name: That at

the name of Jesus every knee should

bow, of things in heaven, and things in

earth, and things under the earth; And

that every tongue should confess that

Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of

God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).

The new name given to Christ at the

resurrection is not Jesus; that is the

human name given to him at his birth.

Mary was told to call her unborn son

JesusThou shalt call his nameJesus (Matt. 1:21). The new name

given to him as a reward for his re-

demptive work is Lord. That is the

name he earned and which was given

to him by his Father at the resurrec-

tion.

Gods controversy with sinners is

not merely their refusal to mentally

believe that Christ was really born

of a virgin. Nearly our whole society

confesses that fact at Christmas time.Roman Catholics have built their

whole pagan system of Maryology on

a gross misuse of that truth. Nor is

Gods controversy with sinners their

refusal to accept by faith that Christ

rose from dead. Again, our churches

will be packed on Easter Sunday with

people confessing they believe the

resurrection of Christ actually took

place.

What then is Gods controversy

with sinners? What is his controversy

with the people in your city? It has

nothing to do with faith, as a men-

tal assent, in the historic reality of

the birth, death and resurrection of

Christ. I repeat, Christmas and Easter

give ample proof of suchfaith. Gods

controversy with sinners is their re-

fusal to bow in repentance and faith



11/20


McAloonContinued on page 15

the Old Covenant. He pointed toward

the spiritual goal of Gods plan in the

brightest and clearest way that the

physical types and shadows would

allow.3

For NCT, everything from the law,

prophets, and the writings nd theirfulllment in Christ and his church.

These were always the end and the

goal; thus, when Jeremiah prophesies

about the restoration of Israel and

Jerusalem, an eternal dynasty sitting

on the throne of David, and an eternal

and plentiful Levitical priesthood

continuously making sacrices, he

is using Old Covenant language to

describe Gods New Covenant fulll-

ment which is far better than the old

pictures.4

The Church

NC theologians hold that this New

Covenant era began with the estab-

lishment of Christs church on the

day of Pentecost (Matt. 16:18; Acts

2; 1 Cor. 12:12-13).5This is where we

differ from the covenantal concept of

one church existing throughout re-

demptive history. Christs statements

recorded in Matthew 16:18 seem to

indicate that something new is about

to be built, and it is not upon any prior

foundations. The promises to Abra-

ham were not fullled until the death

and resurrection of Jesus, and this

is the reason why the writers of the

NT constantly point Jews back to the

cross and Pentecost as the fulllment

of these promises (Acts 3:24-26).6

Reisinger argues that the giving of

the Spirit was the heart of thepromise

of the gospel in the OT Scripturesand the crowning experience of the

gospel in the New Covenant. This is

seen in the apostles emphasis on the

fulllment of the promises made to

3 Lehrer, 85.

4 Ibid., 91; also see 2 Cor. 3:7-13.

5 See Wells, 109-120; and Reisingers

chart inAbrahams Four Seeds, 114-

115.

6 White, Galatians, 93; Schreiner, 62.

the prophets, such as Joels prophecy

and the covenant made with David. In

Reisinger words:

The in Christ experience of

being baptized into his body can-

not take place until the middle wall

of separation erected by the Law

Covenant has been removed. The trueinheritance cannot be realized until

the true seed to whom the promises

are made has come and fullled the

Old Covenant, earned the blessing it

promised, died under its curse, and

then established the New Covenant,

the new man, the new access, the new

status, yea, the whole new creation (2

Cor. 5:17). This is exactly what we

celebrate when we sit at the Lords Ta-

ble and remember the New Covenant

sealed in his blood (1 Cor. 11:25).7

For NC theologians, this work of

Christ is the fulllment of all of the

law and the prophets, both for Jews

and Gentiles alike. Gentiles are now

brought into the people of God by

the blood of Christ, in that if a Gen-

tile was in Christ when he died, then

that Gentile was also in him when he

fullled the law; therefore all Gentiles

in Christ have fullled the conditions

of the Covenant (Eph. 2:11-22).8Also,

whereas the Old Covenant Sabbathstood as the sign of Gods specic

covenant with Israel, now both Jews

and Gentiles are able to partake of

the spiritual Sabbath. We take Rob-

ert Garners position, that Jesus is

the only Sabbath of rest for believers

under the gospel, and to keep this

Sabbath from polluting it is to believe

7 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds, 61,

108; one obvious implication of this

is that, contrary to Covenantalism, allof those under the New Covenant are

regenerate believers. See prior discus-

sion on page 16.

8 White, Galatians, 140; also see page

96 where he references Poythress

statement that since a new covenant is

made with Israel and Judah, it is made

with Christians by virtue of their union

with Christ the Israelite, from Vern

Poythress, Understanding Dispen-

sationalism(Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R

Publishing, 1987), 106.

in him alone for righteousness apart

from any work. Like circumcision

(Col. 2:11), the feast of tabernacles

(John 7:37), the Jubilee Sabbath (Luke

4:16-21), the cities of refuge (Heb.

6:18), the Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), the

Day of Atonement (Heb. 10:1-14), and

all Mosaic institutions, the Sabbathhas reached its fulllment in Christ

(Col. 2:17; Heb. 4).9To conclude with

Reisinger:

The church is the nation born

in a day. She is the true house of

David. She is the temple of the living

God and each of her members are liv-

ing stones in that growing temple. God

himself not only dwells in her midst,

but also he literally indwells every

stone. Her children, without exception

shall dwell safely in the mountain ofGod forever. She is Abrahams seed

because she is in Christ, and every one

of her children, without exception,

are true believers because they are

born spiritually. They are all baptized

into the body of Christ by the Holy

Spirit of promise and are all given the

Spirit of adoption in order that they

might realize that new position. The

New Covenant community that was

promised in the prophets has been now

established forever, and that New Cov

enant community is the true and nalfulllment of Gods promise to make

Abraham a great nation.10

EVALUATION AND CONCLU-

SION

Much has been attempted to be

covered in this brief study, and much

more could be written to further

expound NCT and its exegetical argu-

ments. There are many more nuances

and positions that warrant discussion;

however, what I have attempted to

cover here are those themes where

9 Robert Garner, A Treatise on Baptism

(1645; reprint, Paris, AR: The Old

Faith Baptist Church, n.d.), 30; in

Wells and Zaspel, 235. See Wells

entire chapter entitled, The Sabbath:

A Test Case.

10 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds,

112.

McAloonContinued from page 7


12/20


son you would see them bowing and

straightening up, again and again.

Such acts go on in thousands of places

in our world.

If an ordinary citizen of Israel

overstepped the boundaries between

the two groups, he was in grave dan-

ger.

What kinds of things were used

in worship? As I said above, animals

being sacriced was a chief ingredi-

ent of Old Covenant worship. First we

must realize that not any and every

kind of animal could be used. No wild

animals could be used, only domestic

ones. The animals are specied. In-

cluded are lambs (Ex. 29:38-41; 14:10;

cf. Matt. 8:4), goats (Lev. 1:10), and

doves or pigeons (Lev. 5:11). Otherthings of value to Israels citizens

could accompany the giving up of

the animals themselves. We read of

incense or perfume of some value that

sometimes was used along with the

esh of the animals that were sacri-

ced (Ex. 30:34-38).

When were the people to worship?

Just as they had designated places,

so also they had designated times. In

the wilderness they were to gather atthe tent of meeting when they heard a

single trumpet blast. We presume that

regular times were put in place once

they arrived in the promised land. The

next question covers one such time.

Where was worship to be done?

First at the tabernacle and later at the

temple of Solomon. Three times a

year, all the males had to appear in

a designated place for worship (Ex.

23:14ff; 34:23; Deut. 16:16). 2 Chron-icles 8:12-13 suggest rules for daily

offerings there as well.

Why were they to worship as they

did? Since as a nation they were a

mixed sacral society, we must keep

in mind that prescribed worship had

to be public so that it could be made

certain that every citizen was taking

part. That made regular times and

places necessary. If worship had been

they said, we know you are a man of

integrity and that you teach the way

of God in accordance with the truth.

You arent swayed by men, because

you pay no attention to who they are.

Tell us then, what is your opinion?

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or

not? But Jesus, knowing their evil

intent, said, You hypocrites, why are

you trying to trap me? Show me the

coin used for paying the tax. They

brought him a denarius, and he asked

them, Whose portrait is this? And

whose inscription? Caesars, they

replied. Then he said to them, Give to

Caesar what is Caesars, and to God

what is Gods.

Since Israel was a sacral society,

they greatly disliked paying Rome

taxes. In principle they knew they

should not do so. Their oath of al-

legiance was given to Yahweh, not to

Caesar. But as a captive country they

had little choice. The busiest roads

of the empire often bore witness to

Romes demand for allegiance by

crucifying Jews and others in such

public places. Jesus critics saw in this

fact a chance to trap him no matter

how he answered their question. If he

said, Yes, it is lawful to pay taxes toCaesar, they would denounce him

before the people and seek to ruin his

inuence. If he said, No, they could

do worse. They could denounce Jesus

to the Roman authorities to be cruci-

ed. Eventually, as we know, they

succeeded in this.

Christs answer contains the hint

I mentioned above. Shortly he would

die. After that he would build up his

church. It would not be a sacral soci-ety. To be sure, its members highest

allegiance would belong to God, but

its citizens would be faithful members

of whatever nation in which they held

citizenship. That hint becomes clear

in the writings of both Paul in Ro-

mans and Peter in 1 Peter.

Paul writes in Romans 13:1-2:

Everyone must submit himself to

the governing authorities, for there is

no authority except that which God

has established. The authorities that

exist have been established by God.

Consequently, he who rebels against

the authority is rebelling against what

God has instituted, and those who do

so will bring judgment on themselves.

Peter makes much the same pointin 1 Peter 2:13-14:

Submit yourselves for the Lords

sake to every authority instituted

among men: whether to the king, as

the supreme authority, or to gover-

nors, who are sent by him to punish

those who do wrong and to commend

those who do right.

Before we turn to the NT to see

all that this change would mean, lets

take a closer look at Israels worship.

We will do so by using the standard

list of questions that ask who, what,

when, where, and why?

Who were the people commanded

to carry out worship?

There were two groups that over-

lapped. First, every citizenthe people

who brought the sacrices to be used

in worship. Second, the prieststhe

people who did their work on those

sacrices. We will see shortly thateach of these groups had specic

instructions as to what they were to

do. They emphatically did not do the

same things!

These two groups were typical

groups in most, perhaps nearly all,

ancient societies. We call such nations

or societiessacral societiesor theoc-

racies. Israel was such a nation. These

nations put large public religious

demands on their citizens. Such na-tions still exist. The nations dedicated

to Allah, that is Muslim nations, are

such examples. There every citizen

worships Allah and engages in the

same acts of outward worship as all

other citizens of such countries do.

For example, if you were to look

into a Muslim temple at a time of

worship, you would see a crowd of

persons all on their knees. In uni-

WellsContinued from page 1


13/20


WellsContinued on page 14

dened as inward under the Sinai

covenant, there would have been no

way to measure it. This does not mean

that no worship during that period

was inwardnot at all! Those born

again or regenerated in that period

would have worshiped inwardly as

well. In large measure that is what thenew birth is about. In that experience

dead men and women are made alive

to the living God who created them

and who sustains them, for both time

and eternity.

Turning now to the NT, we nd a

great emphasis on internal worship.

Lets begin with John 4:19-24 where

Jesus surprises a Samaritan woman

by telling her of her relation to six

men:Sir, the woman said, I can see

that you are a prophet. Our fathers

worshiped on this mountain, but you

Jews claim that the place where we

must worship is in Jerusalem.

Jesus declared, Believe me,

woman, a time is coming when you

will worship the Father neither on

this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You

Samaritans worship what you do not

know; we worship what we do know,

for salvation is from the Jews. Yet atime is coming and has now come

when the true worshipers will wor-

ship the Father in spirit and in truth,

for they are the kind of worshipers the

Father seeks. God is spirit, and his

worshipers must worship in spirit and

in truth.

A number of things call for com-

ment in Jesus words to her. First,

Christ refuses to share the honor of

making salvation known with any

other nation, with neither the Samari-tans nor any other group: Salvation

is from the Jews! Second, Christ

shows in verse 21 that true worship-

ers will include Samaritans. Third, he

announces that a much fuller grasp

on salvation is on the verge of being

revealed. This surely declares the

arrival of the kingdom of God and

the New Covenant. It anticipates the

knowledge that comes with Jesus

himself as hinted at in the OT (Isa.

53:10-12; Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14).

Fourth, in saying, the true

worshipers will worship the Father

in spirit and in truth, Christ an-

nounces that the worship will have a

large internal dimension. That will be

true whether we capitalize Spiritto make this a reference to the Holy

Spirit or leave it as it appears here.

That is true because the Spirit is said

to live within believers.

One more thing needs emphasis:

these are the kind of worshipers the

Lord seeks. This makes two points.

First, since God is sovereign, he

will not seek such people in vain. He

will nd them! In other words, Jesusdescribes all members under the New

Covenant as worshipers in spirit and

truth. That is a vast number of people!

However, just as important is another

fact: given the spiritual death in which

all men are in bondage, Gods seek-

ing will have to bring a new birth or

regeneration with it. Jesus made this

point very evident to Nicodemus in

John 3:3 when he says, I tell you

the truth, unless a man is born again,

he cannot see the kingdom of God.

One place Christian liberty is seen

at some length is Romans 14:1-23.

Well sample this passage without

covering it in detail. Lets start with

the question of what we can or can-

not eat. The Mosaic Covenant had a

good deal to say about this (Ex. 22:31;

Lev. 11:1-27). But now the decision is

left to us (Rom. 14:1-4). The same is

said of what days to celebrate (Rom.

14:5). Note that the decisions are leftto us. Making decisions that may turn

out either good or bad is a path to

increasing maturity and an exercise

of increasing maturity. We see this as

parents as we watch it take place in

our children. That is consistent with

the change from the Old Covenant to

the New.

Romans 15:1-3 and 5-7 show that

liberty is not license. There are limits

to our decisions. One important one

is the effect our choices will have on

others. Paul puts it this way:

We who are strong ought to bear

with the weak and not to please our-

selves. Each of us should please his

neighbor for his good, to build him up

For even Christ did not please himselfbut as it is written: the insults of

those who insult you have fallen on

me. May the God who gives en-

durance and encouragement give you

a spirit of unity among yourselves as

you follow Christ Jesus, so that with

one heart and mouth you may glorify

the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ. Accept one another, just as

Christ accepted you, in order to bring

praise to God.

Who is affected by our choices?Paul rst mentions the weak, that is,

those who have scruples against some

things that we practice. Building them

up in some way is better than press-

ing them to dele their consciences.

Perhaps through our liberty they may

come to feel the freedom we have in

Christ, but not at the cost of doing

something that they suspect is wrong.

We must feel a spirit of unity with

them and so must they with us as each

party seeks to understand the other.

There is also another party in-

volved, God. Our unity should display

the most important ingredient of our

lives, our seeking to bring glory to

God! Paul tells us to do this with one

heart and mouth (v. 6). In modern

English we often associate heart

with emotions rather than with our

intellect. But in both OT Hebrew and

NT Greek, heart and mind are often

synonyms. The unity here is betweenwhat we think and what we say, be-

tween mind and voice. We must bring

these two together to please God. How

we express this glory, however, is left

largely to ourselves. We may usually

do it alone or in concert with others.

But in a sacral society, the law always

demands a public component in all

worship.


14/20


WhiteContinued from page 5

One other element of our liberty:

just because something under the Old

Covenant is no longer required does

not mean it is forbidden. Take tithing

and Sabbath. Those who nd tithinguseful may continue it. As for Sab-

bath, many of us who are older have

fond memories of a day in the week

when shops were closed by law and

custom. I could be glad if that custom

remained, though this is not, in my

judgment, an issue where Christianity

may dictate to civil law. Where I lived

many shops also closed on Wednes-

day afternoon to allow folks to go to

mid-week services!

The command to make disciples is

sandwiched by the authority of Jesus

and the presence of Jesus. Opposition

will abound, but Jesus hasnt left us

as orphans (John 14:18). He is with us

through his Spirit. The whole book of

Matthew is sandwiched by this theme

(see 1:22-23). In Jesus, God is with usnow and forever, always (literally the

whole of every day).

to the one who God has made to be

Lord.It is the rejection of the Lord-

ship of Christ over their life that is the

sinners problem, and we are called

to face sinners with that problem by

pressing the claims of Jesus Christ as

Lord. We must demand that the sinner

lay down the weapons of his warfareand rebellion and totally and uncondi-

tionally surrender to a gracious King.

God the Father says that Jesus is

Lord. What say ye?

with Joe and were on the bus. Surely

we would have informed them of who

this man was! Joe Louis was said to

have been able to knock out a horse

with one blow (I am not sure why he

went around hitting horses). We would

have informed these guys that theywere in the presence of greatness and

did not know it. They hadto be in-

formed. His greatness demands it. Ev-

ery one of our friends, neighbors, and

family members lives and breathes

in the presence of the greatest Lord,

whose power makes Joe Louis seem

like a handicapped grasshopper. We,

the people of the one true Lord must

stand up on the bus and promote the

reality of his Lordship with our words

and works.2

Jesus commands us to make dis-

ciples. We often think this verse only

applies to those called to be mission-

aries. This verse is for all Christians.

The main verb in this passage is

make disciples. We are not merely

called to make converts, but dis-

ciples. We are not called to build big

buildings, have immaculate services,

entertain, or replicate rock concerts

but to make disciples. Marshall andPayne write, Thus the goal of Chris-

tian ministry is quite simple, and in a

sense measurable: are we making and

nurturing genuine disciples of Christ?

The church always tends towards

institutionalism and secularization.

The focus shifts to preserving tradi-

tional programs and structures, and

the goal of discipleship is lost. The

mandate of disciple-making provides

the touchstone for whether our churchis engaging in Christs mission. Are

we making genuine disciples of

Jesus Christ? Our goal is not to make

church members or members of our

institution, but genuine disciples of

Jesus.3

2 Ibid. 36-37.

3 Tony Payne and Colin Marshall, The

Trellis and the Vine (Kingsford, Aus-

tralia: Matthias Media, 2009), 14.

So yes, we must go, send, and

pray, but if this is all we do we are

not heeding our Lords command. We

mustbe making disciples.

Furthermore, if we do not disciple,

our culture will. What would it look

like for us to be a people discipled

by our culture? Well for starters, wewould look no different than our un-

believing neighbors. We would share

their values. We would confuse the

kingdom of God with the empire of

America. We would jump at promo-

tion offers without giving the slight-

est thought about how it would affect

time with the people of God. We

would be in debt in all sorts of ways.

We would be very individualistic,

going home every week night to sit inmychair, eat myfood, in myhouse.

We would think that attendance for

an hour on Sunday would be enough

to please God in our behavior. We

would think of self rst when we

come across an extra sum of money.

We would compromise hard truths.

We would tolerate divorce and be de-

pendent on two income lifestyles. We

would aim to be a very comfortable

people. We would be dened by what

we own. We would value family overthe family of God. Oh, but what if we

followed the commands of Christ?

We are also commissioned to bap-

tize. Baptism is an outward expression

of our submission to the authorita-

tive king. We are also called to teach

them to obey everything Jesus com-

manded. The people of God are no

longer bound to the Mosaic law but

the commandments of the Messiah.

The Old Testament is important, andthe Epistles are extremely relevant;

however, it is Jesus commands that

comprise the central core of the Chris-

tian faith and proclamation.

The Presence of Christ

The commission concludes with

the words, And behold, I am with

you always, to the end of the age.

We can do none of this on our own.


WellsContinued from page 11

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C.H. Spurgeon


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